Pistols

The Tokarev pistol replaced the old Nagant revolver in Russia in the 1930s, and what a change it was. The new semiauto zinged out an 85-grain bullet at close to 1500 fps, and was the speed king for handguns until the advent of the 357 Magnum in the 1950s, which could sometimes equal, but seldom exceed, the speed of the Mauser-designed cartridge.

The 7.62x25mm Tokarev cartridge originated before the turn of the 19th century as the 30 Borchardt, which didn't quite make the velocity of the Mauser or Tokarev cartridges, though the bullet weight was the same. It then was adopted by Mauser and was loaded hotter for his Broomhandle. The Russians copied the 1896 Mauser round essentially exactly, but put it into a much simpler handgun. While somewhat similar to the Colt 1911 design, the Tokarev was a simplification in some ways, and an advancement in others. The big thing about the Tokarev is the original design of both the TT-30 and TT-33 lacked a safety. There was a half-cock position on the hammer, but no easy way to lower the hammer once it was cocked, nor to keep it in the cocked position.

We acquired two Tokarev TT-33 variants for this test report. One was a Yugoslavian version, marked as the Model M57. It featured a well-made and cleanly installed thumb safety that permitted normal and confident cocked-and-locked carry. The other gun was from Romania and had a crude safety that had been added to permit importation into the U.S. There were other slight differences between the two that we'll get into later.

Because the takedown is identical for the two, we'll discuss that first. One of the nicer aspects of the Tokarev is a much easier takedown than that of the 1911. You don't have to wrestle the slide all the way back and hunt for a notch to get the cross pin out. And once the slide is removed toward the front, the hammer/sear group comes out as a unit for easy cleaning or replacement. The slide spring remains in the gun until you pull it out, which then permits removal of the barrel.

The Tokarev was a clean design, we thought, with an easily cocked hammer and excellent sights, though the rear one was on the high side to properly match the front blade. None of our shooters disliked the vertical grip angle of these two pistols. We all thought the grip felt natural.

The Tokarev has a barrel bushing, but turning it is not required to remove the slide. The slide spring keeps the barrel bushing in place, and once the slide spring is removed, the barrel bushing can be rotated 180 degrees to free the barrel, which comes out of the gun toward the front.

The barrels of the two guns had locking rings machined completely around their circumferences, though only the top portion locked into the slide. The benefit is much easier manufacture than that needed for a typical 1911 barrel.

Both guns exhibited a semi-gloss blued finish, and both had plastic grips that were held in place by hidden clips, accessible via the mag well. Both had lanyard rings, and both had fixed sights. The handling differences between the two were minimal, and the range results were similar. The Romanian version had a shorter grip, permitting eight rounds in the magazine instead of nine for the Yugo version. We tested them with two types of low-cost surplus ammunition, Romanian and Polish. Here's what we found.

(GunReports.com) -- Auction Arms, the official auction site of the NRA, and GunReports.Com have announced a letter of intent to establish the Auction Arms News Bureau, a weekly E-Letter that will deliver gun news, pricing trends and other information for the serious shooter.

(GunReports.com) -- Gun Tests Magazine, the 23-year-old consumer resource for the serious shooter, will partner with Auction Arms to collect and report up-to-the-minute, accurate firearms pricing.

(GunReports.com) — For at least the rest of the week, GunReports.com will continue to compile links to stories that document the threats being made to 2nd Amendment and other speech and property rights under the pretext of the Tucson tragedy.

(GunReports.com) -- Smith & Wesson Corp. has announced that the California Division of Parole has begun issuing its officers a new duty side arm, the Smith & Wesson M&P40 pistol. The agency took possession of the 2,300 pistols chambered in .40 S&W from Smith & Wesson in November and officers in the field are currently using the M&P40.

(GunReports.com) -- A release from the CCRKBA: The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is condemning Saturday's attempted assassination of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the murders of six people including a federal judge and a 9-year-old child, for which a 22-year-old Tucson man is now facing charges.

(GunReports.com) -- Gun Owners of America issued an email alert in response to New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy's call for magazine and gun show bans in the wake of shooting of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords over the weekend.

In this test we'll take a look at three 6+1 380 Auto pistols that Gun Tests readers have been asking us to test: the $430 Diamondback DB380, the $575 Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380, and the $336 Taurus Model 738B.

The Diamondback DB series pistols are manufactured by a relatively new company in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Diamondback lays claim to "a FEA (Fine Element Analysis) designed slide and barrel that is stronger than any comparable firearm, resulting in durability with less felt recoil…." Some of the finer points we liked were the steel magazine catch and the taper at the lower corner of the trigger guard to ease holstering or other means of retention. The slide had cocking serrations that were both functional and visually appealing. There was also a helpful beavertail to aide recoil control and protect larger hands from contact with the slide as it moved forward and back. Only one six round magazine was supplied. True to each of our 380 test guns, the Diamondback magazine was fashioned from sheet metal with a polymer follower, and it had a removable basepad for cleaning or replacement of the spring.

Including our 738B, there are a total of six Model 738 pistols with different color frames and stainless slides on the taurususa.com website. The most expensive model costs as little as $352. Our stealth-black Taurus 738B arrived in a black ballistic-nylon belt pouch measuring about 5.5 inches long by 4.0 inches high. The pouch was deep enough to carry a second six-round magazine, supplied, and the full-length flap was secured by two magnetic snaps. Belt contact was by belt loop or a steel clip. This product, the Tetron Ambi Cell Phone holster, was designed for "mini 380s" and can be found online in a variety of colors for about $19, at bulldogcases.com.

There was a great deal of technology in each of our test guns, but the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380 makes use of many modern advancements. Each of our guns utilized a narrow synthetic frame, and, in addition, the Bodyguard 380 was fit with a two-stage laser built in to the dust cover, and it had a slide stop and a thumb-operated safety. The receiver of the Bodyguard 380 was rock hard, and the front side of the grip offered a finger groove directly below the trigger guard. Only one magazine was supplied, but it was fit with a base pad that added one additional finger groove. Smith & Wesson shipped the Bodyguard in a black zippered case that suggested the pistol can be carried concealed in what appeared to be a daily planner. A flat basepad was also supplied, which was intended to make this pistol even more concealable.

Long ago someone put a shoulder stock on a handgun so he could do a better job of shooting it without becoming a skilled pistolero. The shoulder stock holds the gun steadier than the hands alone can hold it, thus some immediate handgunning success was possible. Some early examples were the shoulder-stocked Third Model Colt Dragoons and 1860 Army Colts of the Civil War era, and there were some earlier uses. We've seen examples of percussion firearms dating to the mid 1830s, and would bet a nickel there exist examples of shoulder-stocked flintlock pistols going back a hundred years earlier.

For this test report we looked at two guns from the early 20th century, both of which types saw plenty of wartime and civilian use. Our test guns are by Mauser and by Browning/Inglis. Both were supplied to us by Collectors Firearms in Houston (www.collectorsfirearms.com). The Mauser was a C96 Model 1921 "Bolo" with short barrel ($2395 plus $395 for the stock at Collectors), and the Browning was a Hi-Power made by Inglis in Canada ($1650 with stock, also Collectors's counter price). Both handguns had walnut stocks, and both had tangent sights with a narrow V-notch combined with a sharpened post front blade, which gave relatively poor sight pictures. We tested the 30 Mauser with Serbian Prvi Partizan FMJ ammo, and the 9mm Hi-Power with Black Hills 147-gr and Winchester BEB 115-gr ammunition. Here is what we found.

(GunReports.com) -– Kahr Arms's 100th Anniversary Edition 1911 from Auto-Ordnance will debut at SHOT Show 2011 in January. The 100th Anniversary Edition is a .45 caliber classic style WWII Parkerized 1911 pistol with a 5” barrel. A special engraving on the slide will read “1911 .45 ACP, 1911-2011, 100 Years”.

(GunReports.com) -- In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the classic 1911 pistol designed by John M. Browning, Browning has introduced a scaled-down, 22 L.R. version of this firearm for 2011. The new Browning 1911-22 pistol is almost an exact replica of the original 1911, just smaller. The new Browning 1911-22 is 85% the size of the original 1911 John M. Browning design.

(GunReports.com) -- Smith & Wesson Corp. is shipping the new Bodyguard 38 and Bodyguard 380 First Edition firearm sets. The limited edition sets feature one Bodyguard pistol and one Bodyguard revolver with corresponding serial numbers and laser engraving.